[00:00:00] You.
[00:00:05] Happy New year.
[00:00:07] Oh, my goodness. All right. Just. I'm. I'm curious. No, wrong answer. But I'll tell you how the a 15 answered the question.
[00:00:15] Raise. Raise your hand if you loved 2023. And you're like, I kind of wish it would have kept going. It's. It's very cool. It's fine. If you are. Be proud. How many of loved it? You're like, all in. No one? Okay. I had one taker in the 815.
[00:00:32] All right, so raise your hand if you are super pumped about all the possibilities of a new year and you're done with 2023 and you're pretty much excited about that. All right? Amen. I love this.
[00:00:41] It's funny because, yeah, literally one person in the 815 rose, their hands are like, I like, 2023. It was a great year for me. And everyone else was like, no, we're done. We're done with this year. All right, so one of our responsibilities as disciple makers, it is to prepare those that we disciple for the things that we know are coming. So that when you face the things that we all know are coming, you can respond in a way that brings God glory, that stewards, well, the opportunities he brings into your life. All right, so let's start off with a joyful note. Here are four realities that every single one of you are going to face in 2024.
[00:01:25] Well, three realities and one inevitable reality. Okay. Sin. And guess who's sin? Yours and mine. Every day for the rest of this year, you are going to be dealing with your own sin, your own brokenness, your own frailty. You have to deal with you everywhere you go. Guess who's there you are. Good luck. It's going to be amazing. You know it's coming. So part of discipling people as moms and dads, when you disciple your kids, one of the things you have to train them to do is be prepared to deal with themselves, because all of our weaknesses, all of our frailties, they're there. Number two, sinners. Look around you.
[00:02:04] You have to deal with sinners everywhere you go. And some of the hardest parts of dealing with sinners is dealing with the things they do to themselves, the people you love, the things they do to the world, the things they do to you. Every day for the rest of this year, short of you being a hermit, you're going to have to deal not just with your sin, but with other people's sin. People are going to hurt themselves, hurt the world and hurt you. You will not get away from it. This is the rest of your life. Here's number three, suffering.
[00:02:35] Life will be hard. And here's kind of like a grim look at it. Everyone you love will die, or you will die first. Yay. So glad we came to church today. This is the brightest ever. Oh, let's get to number four, death right now. I pray this isn't a 2024 reality for you, but every human being.
[00:02:54] These are realities that are inescapable. And so when we put together a preaching calendar, we think to ourselves, these are things that are real, inescapable. Every human being has to deal with them. So how do we train you, help you moms and dads? How do you train your children, grandparents, your grandchildren, your nieces? How do you prepare them? Now, let's truly actually look to a little more positive side.
[00:03:18] What skills does every christian need to learn? Boil them down to like, five big skills. One is spiritual growth. How to pursue God, developing the inner person, becoming more christlike, self control, conquering sin, killing idols, and growing spiritually. Becoming more like Christ. By the way, it typically doesn't just happen on accident, it happens on purpose. Number two is the skill of handling God's word. Interpreting, understanding, applying, teaching. Like, you may not be a preacher or a Bible teacher, but if you've got kids, you need to figure out quick how to read, understand, interpret, and then give away the truths of God's word to your children or to your grandchildren. Relationships, marriage, family, church, work, friendships, part of being a follower of Christ, nay, a human, is dealing with people in relationship where you love and are loved in return. And the word of God has an immense amount of information and training on this. But to be a healthy partner in a relationship or a friendship, that takes training and as you know, with your children, it doesn't come naturally. Money and resources, saving, spending, investing, tithing, preventing idolatry. This is a skill left to our own. We are idolaters who do ridiculous things with our money and resources. Number four, five. Sorry. Serving and building God's kingdom. These are skills, we need to learn these. We need to be trained in them. And so we know these are coming. We know that sin, sinners, suffering, and inevitably, death are coming. We also know that we're going to be asked to steward our spiritual growth. God's word, relationships, money, resources and ministry. So it's our job to prepare you. Now, here's what happens.
[00:05:12] Often, I don't know a percentage. Sometimes it feels like a lot, sometimes it feels like a little. I get up and preach and there's this sense that people have the expectation that every sermon needs to blow their minds.
[00:05:26] Not going to happen.
[00:05:29] That is an incredible pressure that I have chosen to release from myself.
[00:05:33] If I were going to preach a sermon that blew everybody's mind, actually, every single person would probably need a different sermon every single week because every person is in a different place. The vast majority of the sermons that we preach are not designed to blow your mind. They are designed to prepare you. They are designed to prepare you for the things that we know are coming. So I'll be honest. I've sat in messages and I've been like, yeah, not interested in zone out, but what am I missing? Because what I might be missing is a tool, a resource, an insight, a conviction that I am going to need later. And so, so much of the preaching that we do is preparing you, discipling you for the inevitabilities of reality and life. And so this morning, it's going to be very similar. If you're kind of new with us, I think it's a great morning to be here. Usually about 80% of the year, we preach through a book of the Bible. We're about three quarters of the way through Leviticus. This year, we're going to do second Peter and finish Leviticus and a few other things. Whole lot going on on the preaching side, but today is going to be a little bit different. We're going to do kind of a different sermon the beginning of every year. We kind of look at the upcoming year, some of the things that we know are coming, and then we open up God's word to kind of help us prepare for those. So if you're new, I think this is going to be great. We're going to deal with three kind of big realities that we know are coming and on a positive side. When they arrive, if they arrive, we will not be surprised. We will not be shaken, we will not be shocked. In fact, we're going to prepare ourselves because we want to respond to whatever the Lord brings into our church family and our individual families in a way that brings him glory. This is where you shout amen. Amen. Right? I feel it. All right. In 2024, village church, we need to expect growth. That is unusual.
[00:07:28] 2023 was a funny year because village church grew by over 30%.
[00:07:36] That's crazy.
[00:07:39] It is not uncommon that people are sitting next to somebody who, for the first time in 2023, village church became your church home. I want to just stop for a moment. I want to tell you, like, if you're new in 2023, I want to tell you what, I have yet to hear it from any village churcher who was at village church from 2022 and before. I have yet to hear a single person say, man, these people are ruining things.
[00:08:07] I wish we could go back to the way it was.
[00:08:11] I've actually never heard a person say that. In fact, the overall consensus, as I listen to a lot of people process is really great delight. That the Lord would count it our privilege to steward this season and this place in time. So I want to look at you, if you are newer and say, we're thrilled you're here, because every one of us was new here at one time or another. Every one of us was loved well, sometimes loved poorly. And every one of us has figured out, how do we make this place our church home? So, as I say all that, we would love to help you take a next step when you're ready. And whatever that looks like, it's different for everyone. We would love to help you figure that out. And maybe village church isn't even your final place or your church home, and you're here healing. We would love to help you figure out whatever the Lord has for you. So we get to hear that. Now, if I were you, I would be asking, why? Why is this happening? So what I want to do is I want to take a few moments. I want to geek out with you. We'll get into God's word, be patient. But I want to kind of geek out for a minute. And I want to share with you a handful of trends that are happening. These are not necessarily american trends. These are regional trends, and particularly the trends that are hyper focused on the metro Chicago suburban area. And so four things that might actually help make sense. And I think what these four things are going to do for us is create empathy for every single soul who walks through our doors. All right, number one, suburban parents are experiencing renewed spiritual interest.
[00:09:48] People are realizing that the government and the media and culture in general are not for your kids or your family.
[00:10:03] And for those of you waking up to this reality, welcome to the other side.
[00:10:09] It has gotten so dark that people, for the first time are realizing that there are powerful, nefarious spiritual realities at play.
[00:10:26] Now, most don't have the theological framework for it, nor do they have the vocabulary for it, but they are tender to the idea that the Bible and Jesus might be revelatory as to why and even possibly a solution.
[00:10:46] And so it is not uncommon that people with no theological background, with no understanding of the gospel walk through our doors probably every week thinking to themselves. I don't know what's wrong, but the world isn't right, so I'm going to try to figure this out. Guys. What a tender place. If someone walks through those doors and they're grumpy or they're porcupiney, you have no idea, no idea how hard it is to walk into a church for the first time. Or if you haven't gone anywhere except for maybe you grew up in a Methodist or Catholic or Presbyterian church, and you walk into here and it's a really tight space and there's food everywhere and people are loud. You have no idea what it's like. And so we'll just be kind. Number two, though, is Roman Catholics are reevaluating where they're going to church. Now, there's a couple reasons why.
[00:11:34] One, some things happened in Covid that really kind of upset a lot of Roman Catholics as we talked to them. Number two, the pope is trending very far left. More left than anybody probably they should have known, but than people are comfortable with. And so they're stepping back and saying, we need answers from God's word. They're teaching this or doing this. Something isn't right. Now, you may not know this, and I probably could do an official survey, but, like, low numbers for me would be that 40% to 50% of all people who call village church home are ex Roman Catholics. Just to get that in your category. I am. A bunch of our staff are. I mean, this is like a very real dynamic, particularly in the suburbs. But what happens is they come and they hear God's word and they had not heard it before. They have not been developed theologically or biblically. And so they hear God's word and they're like, whatever that is, I need it now. I need more of that. Number three, church leadership character. It's being revealed.
[00:12:36] All right, so here's what Covid did for you, every one of you individually. If you're married, for your marriages, if you have a family, for your kids, if you have friendships, for your friendships, if you own a business or you work anywhere, for your job, if you're a pastor, if you're an elder, you're a deacon, a stat. It doesn't matter who you are. Covid exposed everybody everywhere. Can't hide from yourself.
[00:13:00] And what we have found is that when it comes to church leadership teams, it's not just us, though. It's everyone that church leadership teams were exposed for the good, for the hard, for the ugly, everything in between, everywhere, all across America, just like your home, just like your marriage, just like your friendships. And it was hard. It was hard for everybody everywhere. And the healthy churches trended healthier and the unhealthy churches trended unhealthier. And people watch and they say something's not right.
[00:13:36] And so what you find is the way, the best I could describe it as it feels sometimes like God threw up all the christians in the Chicagoland area and they all landed kind of in different places. And you're like, who's where and what is going on? And if you've ever been through church hurt, I would say raise your hand if you had, but 80% of you would. So there's the answer.
[00:13:53] How hard is it to come back from that? It's really hard. It's really hard. And so there is a tenderness, there is a compassion that we just kind of got to. Everybody may not jump into everything right away. It might take some people some time just to heal, and this might not even be the place they landed. That's okay. But we want to do is we want to steward every person's soul while they're here to the glory of God. There's a fourth reason suburban churches are consolidating.
[00:14:20] Some churches dabble with theological liberalism and people are leaving those churches to find biblically faithful churches. Some get caught fighting with one another over ridiculous nonessentials. And so people are leaving those churches to find a place that really fights to preserve unity. Some churches get embroiled in scandal. People are leaving. They just can't handle it. They're trying to find a place that has maybe a track record of some semblance of health and trustworthiness. Some churches are becoming more political than biblical. What you find, what Covid did is it's forcing everybody to their extremes. So churches are often becoming far left or far right. And people are like, I'm not comfortable with either of them. And so I need to be a place that keeps Jesus Christ as center and opens up the word of God. And we're not centering ourselves politically, but we're centering ourselves on the living and the written word. That's really hard to do, by the way, in this cultural moment. And I'll just pull back on the spiritual leadership side. I had the privilege of being connected with pastors and spiritual leaders and leaders of nonprofits all over America. And without a doubt, every single one of them have said the same thing. We have reflected that there has been no more challenging season of leadership than 2022 and 2023. We were not prepared. We did not have the tools. We have never seen the level of insanity across America, across the board that we have seen, and it has been excruciating. Now, as I say that, I am not listening to a single one of them complain. I am hearing them identify the reality so that we can learn to become equipped with whatever this post Covid leadership world looks like. And you take mental health and you take politics and you take financial Cris and you take secret sins getting exposed, and you fill in the blank. Everything is a bit more extreme and challenging, and so we're all just kind of learning together and figuring it out. But I want to encourage you, because as the dark gets darker, demonic schemes and character become more apparent, and darkness is taking its mask off in a way that it never has in the past. And interestingly enough, things that darkness is trying to hide or keep hidden are being exposed before our very own eyes. And people are waking up to this cultural moment. They may not have the categories or the vocabulary, but they know something isn't right, and they're hoping that Jesus has answers, and the word of God has answers. Now, let me summarize it this way. We very well might be at the very beginning of a massive spiritual harvest in this country.
[00:16:55] Open up to Matthew, chapter nine with me. I want you to see it in your bibles. I'll put it on the screen if you don't have one, but I want you to see this.
[00:17:03] When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless, which is the way a lot of people feel.
[00:17:15] They were like sheep without a shepherd.
[00:17:19] In verse 37, it says, he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly. Pray earnestly to the lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
[00:17:35] We will go deeper on this text at another day, another time. I want to just pinpoint one thing. Why are there so few laborers? For two reasons. Number one, because prior to this, they hadn't been needed.
[00:17:49] And so what happens throughout history when there is, like, a harvest of people who are ready to come to, like, usually it is preceded by kind of a dry, slow season. All of a sudden, people start coming to Christ, and we're like, oh, no. There's not enough disciple makers to actually help each of the people follow Jesus. It's usually pretty abrupt. It's unexpected. But there's a second reason that the laborers are few. And you'll notice in the text there's an implication that if the people are harassed, how much more will the laborers.
[00:18:20] So there's an implication here, which I think is beautiful, and it's that Jesus positions himself as the loving leader, protective shepherd. And so you get to a season in maybe church history where it is less and less popular to be a christian, let alone a christian leader. And you're like, I'm scared because I don't know, I don't want to be harassed. And yet Jesus says, you don't actually need to be afraid of that because it's my job to protect you. Don't be dumb and don't go sin and do stupid things. But, like, I am your shepherd and your protector. So go into the dark, go into the difficult. And again, I don't know what 2024 is going to hold. I hope it's the greatest year ever, right? It doesn't look like it for being honest, but here's what I know. Your shepherd loves you and is with you. And what we're seeing in the Chicago area is the beginning, the first fruits, what it seems to be a harvest of spiritual interest. People who are asking questions, who are coming to Christ, who are trying to get answers. And it's a really, really special season. We have missionary friends in France, served 30 years, saw one convert in 30 years.
[00:19:35] It is just hard when there might be an awakening spiritually. In Paris and the suburbs, there is going to be a void of laborers. And all of a sudden there's going to be a time where people step back and go, we don't have enough people to serve and work. The church is going to have to figure out how to step up and lean into that. There are so many people right now, though, in China coming to faith that if the numbers stay, that by 2050 there will be more christians in China than not. That's insane. That's awesome. In Africa, if the numbers stay the same, by 2050, 40% of all christians in the globe are going to be from Africa. So the Lord is up to something globally. And often it seems that it happens region by region. And I don't understand his providence and how he does all of this. But here's what I do know. If we, even in a small micro region of America, have the ability to see even a temporary harvest of souls, we want to make sure that we are here prepared, unified, and trained to love and help each person take a next step with Jesus. Okay, so if you are with us, usually I end my sermons with what we call. So whats this is going to be a little different. I'm going to share the three things we expect in 2024. And I'm going to do some so whats after each of them. So don't wind down. The rest of the sermon is going to go faster. But I have three so whats for village church growing healthy in 2024 means a churchwide commitment to people over programs.
[00:21:10] It is the pole in american church culture to put programs over people.
[00:21:17] Let me help you understand on the ground what this might look like if you've been around. I hope you've heard me say this. If not, I want you to hear this.
[00:21:26] You don't exist for village church.
[00:21:31] Village church exists for you. Do you see the difference?
[00:21:37] Our students don't exist for forge. That's the youth ministry. Forge exists to bless and serve students and to point them to God so they can grow spiritually.
[00:21:48] And it's very easy in this cultural moment to flip this on its head and to say the program, the institution is the most important thing. It is not. The people are.
[00:21:57] And this to keep people centered, to keep your church, any church, I don't care how big you are positioned like this so that every human being individually who wants to take a next step with Jesus has that opportunity.
[00:22:13] And they're not pumped into a big program per se, but they are personally able to take a next step with Jesus. That is hard.
[00:22:23] Let me just tell you guys, it is a lot easier to build one big program that you pump people through. But we are in the people business and it is a messy business and it is a great business. It is a disciple making business. And I'm using the word business crassly. I hope you caught that. And it is a privilege to enter into people's lives and to bring the word of God and help in practical ways. But as a church grows, it gets harder and harder to do because it requires an unbelievable base of volunteers ready, willing to engage not just programs, but actual people. So at number two, if we're going to go into 2024 and grow healthy, it is going to require a churchwide commitment to insane generosity. For 15 years I've been preaching sermons on money. Never once has a single human being said to me, stop it, slow down. In fact, the most consistent feedback I get is talk more about it, which I appreciate that like a village church, nothing is off limits. So we're pretty candid when it comes to money, when it comes to God's word. And in February we're actually going to talk quite a bit about this because there's some just dialogues that we need to have as a church family that are good and healthy. But here's some numbers that sometimes people don't quite understand, that if you are going to actually lead a people focused church, it's roughly $2,000 per human being per year. And that does not include community outreach, global missions, building expansions in general. That's just the base cost per human being. And the generosity of this church is incredible because for every person engaged who maybe can't afford that, or is like, I'm not ready for that place in my life, there are people who are doing such incredible gifts and acts of generosity would blow your mind, or making it possible so that anybody, no matter how much money they have, where they're at spiritually, whether they're ready for anything like that or not, is able to be here and they can take a next step with Jesus. I don't know if you've noticed, though, everything's getting more expensive. Anybody? Bueller? Right. So that's a thing.
[00:24:26] And so we are going to have to talk quite a bit more about that. So what? Number three for village Trish grow healthy means a continued churchwide commitment to over the top hospitality.
[00:24:38] Every person who comes to these doors, we want to feed them, love them, encourage them, pray for them. We want to be so generous and kind and help them take away all the roadblocks to whatever God might be asking them to do as a next step. They might be a Christian for 50 years, come in here and not know what their next step is. We want to individually come alongside of them, and we want them to experience hospitality as a church, as a church family. And let me just tell you, you guys are incredible. There are some added complications with such a tight foyer, but, like, you manage it, and we want every person to know and feel that they are loved when they come to this place. So I'm so proud of you guys. I think that's amazing. Now the second one, Phil church in 2024. We need to expect change that will be emotional.
[00:25:27] So what did 2023 look like? Hiring new staff, by the way, our staff are incredible. I hope someday you get the opportunity to rub shoulders with the majority of them, because they're just awesome people and they serve so faithfully. I wish you could see the joy and the unity and the love that this team has. They're incredible. But we will hire new staff every year at happens. We moved in 2023 from two to three services. Do you guys know how much work that is? By the way, I don't mean the preacher. I'm just the infrastructure to make sure that every one of your kids is taken care of 2024. We do. By the way, we need more kids workers so that we can make sure the 08:00 a.m. Service is filled.
[00:26:06] New people leading, new people serving, new friends. One of the things that I found just really delightful is people have met new best friends in 2023. They've met people that have come to village church. And I didn't know you before, but we are connected at the soul. It's just one of my favorite things to watch.
[00:26:23] So what might this look like in 2024? Well, new elders, new deacons, elders, as we are on our email list, stepping off who have served so faithfully and so wonderfully for years. It means less space, less parking, means more fundraisers, it means irritable people, it means people who leave kindly. It means people who move, people who are called to other churches or elsewhere. New people will come. 99% of them are going to be really kind. Some new people are going to be demanding and they're going to be like porcupines. And then you got to step back and say, I don't know why you are the way you are, but I'm going to love you as much as I possibly can because you matter. New staff are going to join us. Staff we love are going to come off staff.
[00:27:06] Let's just get even more personal.
[00:27:09] We have not even begun to see the majority of unhealth that has been brewing in people's homes all throughout Covid. You've seen in 2022 and 23 the tip of the iceberg. And if you talk to any therapist, you talk to any pastor doing counseling, we're all going to tell you the same thing. Oh, you just wait.
[00:27:31] No one in this place will leave 2024 unscathed from people in your family, people in your friend group or people at your work. And some of the challenges and darkness and secrets and unhealth in every way that has been brewing quietly and secretly. You don't need to be scared of it. You need to know that it's coming. And you might be in one of those places where you're like, oh, no, he's talking about me. And the best thing I could tell you is do everything you can, do everything you can to be right with the Lord and to get the help that you're going to need.
[00:28:06] Now, it doesn't just stop there because I don't know what's going to happen politically, this year is looking to be utter insanity on an election side. Anybody else excited or nervous? I don't know?
[00:28:24] What I do know is that our job is to center ourselves on Christ and his word and to be bright shining lights in whatever's going to be an insane world.
[00:28:34] It doesn't just stop there, though. Everything everywhere is changing at a pace that I can't even keep up with. And I can keep up with most. Change. Our kids are changing. Tech is changing. Your spouse is changing. Our grandchildren are changing. Our friendships are changing. How people relate and connect is changing. Changes hard. Changes everywhere.
[00:28:54] Our objective is not to resist change or to create change. Amen. You can't resist it. And if you try to create it, good luck. You're going to create insanity everywhere.
[00:29:04] Our desire is to follow the Lord wherever he leads. If he leads us to change, I'd rather be changing with the Lord. If he calls us to keep things the same, I want to keep it the same with the Lord. And open up your bibles with me to romans twelve two. I think the principles of this verse are going to become really important for all of us in 2024.
[00:29:27] It's a verse, you know, but I want to focus on the second half. But it starts off and says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. And then listen that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
[00:29:50] Whatever the will of God is, despite what it feels like, it is good. Has anybody else ever noticed that sometimes the will of God hurts?
[00:30:01] Sometimes the will of God is excruciating. Sometimes the will of God is a little bit scary.
[00:30:08] But I'm telling you, the will of God doesn't always feel good. But if you were able to test and to discern what the will of God is, it is always the best place to be. It is good because God is there and he loves you and he is good.
[00:30:28] Whatever 2024 holds for us, we want to be skilled in discernment. And this brings us to our next. So what's for village church? Changing to God's glory in 2024 is going to require a commitment to biblical discernment. So we are starting next week, we're launching, it's roughly a seven week series on discernment. In fact, we're going to be focusing on a specific kind of discernment. We're going to be looking at all the things the scriptures say that the demonic realm has laid out to trap believers, and we're going to highlight them, expose them, and we're going to train ourselves to discern the attacks and the traps and the schemes as we come across them, because you're going to come across them. So come next week, we're going to start there. Number two, though, changing to God's glory in 2024 is going to require supernatural grace. Why? Because you're a sinner. We're all sinners. And honestly, pursuing peace as far as it depends on us doing everything we can to preserve the unity of our church, short of sin, is going to be so, so challenging. It will be forever and it always has been. But it's going to require a renewed grace and patience with our brothers and sisters in Christ. But number three, changing to God's glory will require continuing to grow for leaders, for our elders, our pastors and staff, growing in transparent leadership. Like, we want you to be able to ask anything anytime, and we want to share with you what's on our heart, what we're seeing coming along the lines, what we're working on. And to have this open dialogue between leadership and the church is going to be absolutely paramount. Now, we just opened up an email address. It's called
[email protected]. Anytime you have questions about really most things, you can email them here anytime in the past. In 2023, we had a little text for Sermon Q and A. If you've got sermon questions, probably bring those to me or the person preaching. But if there are things in your brain you want questions or you want answers to different questions, email this anytime. By the way, you can also talk to any human being, but we're going to get back to you and make sure you have everything you need to get, everything you need to do, everything you need to do. Go figure that one out. All right, villagerch, in 2024, we need to, number three, expect spiritual warfare. That will be painful.
[00:32:53] So what does this look like?
[00:32:56] What it looks like, and we're going to unpack some of this in the next seven weeks. Is cultural attacks designed to numb you to sin and disconnect you from God, from great relationships, and from other people.
[00:33:09] When you understand the nature of demonic attack, which is disconnection, that's one of the core traps and strategies. When you are disconnected, you are profoundly vulnerable. Here's another one. And this may sound a little weird. Some of you can be like, oh, sure, Pastor Michael, we'll see you. Just wait.
[00:33:24] AI and media propaganda will be coming at you to deceive you. I'm telling you guys, I have seen a handful of videos that I learned were AI.
[00:33:36] I thought there was no possible way it was so good. And the content coming out of them was deception. And it was from people, by the way, who didn't actually say or do the things. And that makes me really nervous.
[00:33:52] And so if you thought you've seen anything, just wait until we now have to figure out how to discern AI propaganda on social media. It's going to be very challenging.
[00:34:04] Now, the goal of all the demonic attacks I want you to catch this is to trip you up. Now, one last scripture we're going to look at is Ephesians, chapter six, verses ten to 14. Again, if you have a Bible open there, I'll have it on the screen. But I want you to know this. There's going to be a handful of verbs and they're all going to point in the same direction. It's this idea that you and I are going to need supernatural help to be able to endure spiritual and demonic attacks. And the good news is that Jesus is your leader and your shepherd and he is your protector. But I want you to look at this. He says in verse ten, finally, be strong.
[00:34:42] Be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his might. Verse eleven, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes, the traps, the designs of the devil. And here's the deal. The goal is they're going to come, they're going to happen, and you have to stand. Now, in the 08:00 I asked, what's the opposite of stand? And somebody said, sit. And I was like, that is correct. That is not what I'm talking about. Okay. The opposite of standing is to be knocked down or to trip and to fall over.
[00:35:16] The design of a scheme or a trap is to get you to fall over. Because when you're fallen over, you can't fight or defend yourself. You are vulnerable. Look at verse twelve. Verse twelve identifies that we do not wrestle. And so this attack, it feels like a wrestling match. In the spiritual realm, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against this spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And so it's like, all right, your job is to stand and someone's going to come at you to wrestle you and you got to figure out, how am I not pushed over and tipped over? How do I stand strong. But look at verse 13. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to. Here it is again, withstand in the evil day, having done all to stand firm. And verse 14, start off stand, therefore. Do you see a theme, by the way? Why the repeated stand, stand, withstand, stand firm? Because the point is to get you down. Because what can they do to you when you're down? Shame, guilt, condemnation. And that will keep you down. Do you have to stay down? By the way, if you have a massive failure and you do something dumb and you sin or struggle and you're caught trapped and you're caught tripped, do you have to stay down? By the way, everybody, the answer is no.
[00:36:36] But the demonic trap and scheme is like, whoa, nobody can forgive me. I can never get over this. Woe is me. Those are schemes and trap designed to keep you there. That's another sermon. Stop it. Michael, focus. Okay.
[00:36:47] For village church, standing in the face of spiritual warfare means growing in spiritual strength. What I found, spiritual strength comes from one of two primary places. Number one is pain.
[00:37:02] You want to get strong, you have to go through pain.
[00:37:07] And there are going to be attacks, and there have been attacks on your life that the evil one has that God, sorry. Has let through to build your strength.
[00:37:19] Now, you may look at this and it's funny. People are saying, God, how could you let this happen? Why would you let this happen? Most of the time it's to build strength so that you are prepared for the worst thing coming.
[00:37:31] And the very thing we get upset about, we're like, listen, the Lord is trying to build strong feet and legs so you can stand firm and you're frustrated. And I get it. And he's like, I am not going to let up because you have not built the muscles you need for what's coming.
[00:37:45] Thank you, God. And when you get to that next thing, you're going to thank him for letting you endure what you endured in 2022 or 2023 because he's good. And this is what we do. We ask our kids to do hard things to build the muscles they're going to need for later.
[00:38:02] But spiritual strength doesn't come from just pain. It comes from proximity.
[00:38:07] What I have found is that you will get the most amount of strength when you are in the presence of Jesus. And so I just want to say this bluntly. If you put together resolutions for 2024, good job. Awesome. If your relationship with Jesus Christ is not at the top of that list, your list is a failure. Who cares if you can fit into those pants and you are far from God?
[00:38:31] But let me say this. I think you can do both.
[00:38:37] But go back to the list and whatever you need to make sure your relationship with God is not just doing okay, but is strong and is grounded and is consistent future. You needs it.
[00:38:51] Future you needs all the stuff you're going through to be able to come to God. Not with a wagging finger of accusation, but to say, God, I want to go through this pain with you. I want to bring this delight and joy to you. Whatever the circumstances, I want it to be with you. Pain, proximity. This is how people grow spiritually. And if you need help, maybe personally figuring out, like, I don't know how to make things right in my relationship with God, here's some of the roadblocks I have. I think the best way to get some help is not necessarily through a sermon, but it's just sitting down with somebody who's a little bit further along in their walk and saying, would you just kind of take a look at my life and help me figure out what does it mean for me to put Jesus first in 2024? That might be your next step. And if you don't know who to ask, come talk to one of us. We would love to connect you with the right person who could help you do that.
[00:39:41] Let me just kind of pull back from all of this. In 2024, if you have not first been reconciled to God through faith in Christ, nothing else will be as it should be.
[00:39:59] The best absolute decision you can make is to come to God and say, I am a sinner.
[00:40:07] I have not lived up to what I know is true and right and good. I've sinned against you. Will you forgive me?
[00:40:15] And what I love about Christianity, about Jesus, the word of God, the gospel, the good news is this is that anybody who believes that they are sinner and that Jesus not just as God, but is their God and that he died for their sins and was raised from the dead. Like anybody who believes that, this is so wonderful.
[00:40:34] God becomes your God. Your sins are forgiven. You are reconciled to him and the shepherd that you need, and the wisdom that you need, and the power for transformation that you need, they're only ever found in the same place, and that is through faith in Christ. All of it. Everything that you actually need to get to the end of 2024 and to be able to say it wasn't perfect, but God, I feel like I did the best I could with the help you gave. I owned the places where I was wrong, and I saw you work and grow me in incredible ways. The only way you will ever get there is if you start by personally trusting in Christ. And if you have never done that, that is your next step. And just great news, you might be here and you're like, I've never heard that before. I need to think about it, like, five years from now. You can tell God anytime. I'm sorry. I believe that Jesus is my God. I believe in his death and resurrection. Save me anywhere, anytime. You can pray it in your head. You can pray it out loud. It doesn't matter, because he hears your thoughts. You can talk to him. And his promise is that anybody who comes to him, he will forgive 100%. And so if that is a decision that you're like, I know I need to make that today. I want to encourage you. Come find somebody, talk to them. And we would love to help you take a next step as you learn what it means to follow Jesus. Guys, if 2024 is incredible, it's like, you all have the best year, spiritually, financially, relationally, everything. Politics, everything's wonderful. The Democrats and the Republicans unite, and they're one mega party about holiness and godliness. I mean, I will eat crow, but it appears that we're going in a direction that's going to be challenging.
[00:42:07] But the Lord is our shepherd, and if we're in the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil. We have every tool we need to bring him glory. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we love you. We are so thankful.
[00:42:20] So thankful for your word. It does not mince words. It tells us the truth about reality, about the past, the present, the future, ourselves. And so thank you for that. Thank you for this church. And as we look to 2024, may we be a local church made up of families and individuals and couples and children and grandparents and everything in between, and best friends and singles and all the above.
[00:42:43] May we bring you glory. May you help us be more like Christ.
[00:42:50] May we embrace the pain and pursue proximity. And may you help us stand firm in the truth of who you are in your word. We love you, and we give you all praise, honor, and glory for every good thing and every hard thing that happens in 2024. We love you. We do all this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
